“Tapestry”
Written by Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Les Landau
Season 6, Episode 14
Production episode 40276-241
Original air date: February 15, 1993
Stardate: unknown
Captain’s Log: An away team that includes Picard, Riker, Worf, and three security guards beams directly to sickbay. Riker says they were ambushed—Picard’s been shot in the chest, and his artificial heart has failed. As Crusher works we fade out to Picard in an all-white region, greeted by a figure in white robes: it’s Q, who declares, “Welcome to the afterlife, Jean-Luc. You’re dead.”
Picard is skeptical that he’s really deceased, since he refuses to believe that the afterlife is run by Q—“the universe is not so badly designed!” So Q produces an image of Picard’s father, Maurice, admonishing him for attending the Academy and saying that after all these years, Picard is still a disappointment. Q then provides Picard with the voices of people who died through Picard’s actions—or inactions—and gives Picard the chance to say something to them, which Picard refuses.
[Spare me your egotistical musings on your pivotal role in history!]